Designated as important intangible folk cultural property of Japan "Yunohana" Yunohana is a naturally-derived bath salt based on a traditional manufacturing method that has been passed on since the Edo period.

Yunohana Okamotoya

Tradition and Culture of Myoban Hot Spring
Yunohana culture by a traditional unique production method
of Myoban hot spring

What is Yunohana?
Yunohana is a naturally-derived bath salt based
on a traditional manufacturing method
that has been passed on since the Edo period.
By using one bag in your bath tub,
you can get positive effects against chronic skin diseases,
neuralgia,joint pain, etc.
In addition, it can help making your skin smooth
and let you enjoy the atmosphere of Japanese hot spring bathing
with relaxing effects.
Normally, Yunohana from other area is manufactured
by a method to precipitate insoluble materials from hot spring water,
but the Yunohana from the Myoban hot springs in Beppu City is totally different.
It is a naturally-derived bath salt produced
by a unique production method that has been passed on since the Edo period.
A lot of hot spring enthusiasts have visited Myoban hot spring to seek
for medicinal benefits against chronic skin diseases, neuralgia, joint pain, etc.
To obtain the healing effects of Japanese hot spring at home,
the natural bathing agent

Beppu Yukemori Hot Spring Landscape
“Myoban Hot Spring”
On September 19th 2012,
“Beppu's Yukemuri / hot spring area”
in Kanawa district and Myoban district was
picked as an important cultural landscape.

Designated as important intangible
folk cultural property of Japan “Yunohana”
Yunohana are made inside straw-thatched huts
called Yunohana-goya.
Yunohana are crystals formed
when vapor gushing up
from underground permeates the dirt floor
of the Yunohana-goya, which is covered
with a blue clay rich
with Myoban hot springs' characteristic minerals.
Thus, Yunohana make 100% natural bathing powders.
In March of 2006,
the Japanese government designated
the method for producing Beppu's Yunohana
as an important intangible folk culture asset.
Why use straw-thatched huts?
That would be because the huts
maintain a fixed temperature and humidity level.

How to make Yunohana
The hot steam that jets out from the “Hells of Beppu” are collected and passed through stone grooves or clay pipes to the ground of a Yunohana hut. About 40 cm underground the flat ground floor, several stone grooves are set up in row. Around and on top of it, small pebbles are dispersed and steam is passed through the grooves to maintain the temperature
of the entire floor surface at around 35 ℃.
When about 10 centimeter-thick
blue clay containing iron
and aluminum is layered on the floor
and is left for a few days,
a silky crystalline matter will form.

Basis of Yunohana
The steam from the underground stone grooves will rise through the pebbles and blue clay, cool down and liquefy into water.
At the same time, hydrogen sulfide and sulfite gas that coexist are oxidized to form sulfuric acid.
The acid experiences capillary action through the slits in the blue clay and combines with iron and aluminum contained in the blue clay to form a sulfate, and the crystalsare precipitated on the surface.

Efficacy of Yunohana (quasi-drug)
neuralgia・rheumatism・lumbago・
Stiff shoulders・athlete's foot・ eczema・
prickly heat・etc
A pleasant hot spring water with medicinal effects hidden
in mysterious colors and a soft touch
The bluish milky colored hot spring water, which can also be compared to celadon, is the sulfurous Myoban spring containing a lot of sulfur compounds.
It is a pleasant hot spring water with medicinal effects hidden in the mysterious color and a soft touch.

Page TOP